Health and Healthcare

Despite Target Cuts, Analysts Stick With Incyte for Big Upside

Chris Lange

Published: January 30, 2016 10:10 am

Last Updated: January 13, 2020 1:53 pm

Incyte Corp. (NASDAQ: INCY) took it on the chin this past week following the announcement that its Phase 2 trial of ruxolitinib would be stopped. This was detrimental to the stock, but a few analysts took a deeper look at it and realized that it might not be as bad as initially thought.

On Wednesday, the company announced that the Phase 2 sub-study of ruxolitinib or placebo in combination with regorafenib in patients with relapsed or refractory metastatic colorectal cancer and high C-reactive protein (CRP) will be stopped early.

The decision to stop the sub-study was made after a planned interim analysis of the high CRP subgroup demonstrated that ruxolitinib plus regorafenib did not show a sufficient level of efficacy to warrant continuation.

As a result, shares initially dropped as low as 14% off this level, pushing a new 52-week low. However after analysts came to bat for this biotech, shares made a healthy bounce in Friday’s trading session.

• Merrill Lynch maintained a Buy rating but cut its price target to $87 from $145.
• Credit Suisse has an Outperform rating but lowered its price target to $102 from $110.
• Jefferies has a Buy rating but cut its price target to $106 from $141.
• JMP Securities has an Outperform rating and lowered its price target to $100 from $133.
• JPMorgan has an Overweight rating and lowered its price target to $115 from $125.
• Leerink has an Outperform rating and cut its price target to $118 from $135.
• UBS has a Buy rating but lowered its price target to $110 from $135.

Shares of Incyte were trading at $70.56 on Friday’s close, with a consensus analyst price target of $116.77 (this may change) and a 52-week trading range of $64.51 to $133.62.